A Review of the Potential Impacts of the Métis Human Resources Development Agreements in Canada

Since 1999, thousands of Métis have received training and found employment through Métis Human Resources Development Agreements (MHRDAs). We estimate MHRDA activities’ annual fiscal impact, which includes higher tax revenue,lower government transfers, mostly in the form of EI and social assistance, and lower health expenditures. Based on results from the 2007-2008 fiscal year, we estimate the annual fiscal impact of one year of activity to be between $4.2 and$47.9 million, with a higher probability associated to the lower-bound estimate than the upper-bound estimate.On a long-term basis, the discounted fiscal benefits outweigh program costs (about $49 million for one year of activity) in all cases but the one based on a the lower-bound estimate and highest discount rate. Our middle-bound estimate suggests annual fiscal benefits of$8.5 million, with long-term benefits reaching $103 million. Given that benefits from Métis training and employment encompass more than what is captured in this analysis, the return from the MHRDA for Canadian society appears to be well worth the investment.Métis Human Resources Development Agreements, MHRDA, Métis, skills, human capital, government program, Aboriginal , labour market

Two models in the world of Métis fiddling : John Arcand and Andy DeJarlis

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The Effect of Increasing Aboriginal Educational Attainment on the Labour Force, Output and the Fiscal Balance

Investing in disadvantaged young people is one of the rare public policies with no equity-efficiency tradeoff. Based on the methodology developed in Sharpe, Arsenault and Lapointe (2007), we estimate the effect of increasing the educational attainment level of Aboriginal Canadians on labour market outcome and output up to 2026. We build on these projection to estimate the potential effect of eliminating educational and social gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people on government spending and government revenues using population and economic projections to 2026.Aboriginal, Education, Canada, Forecast of economic growth, Equity and efficiency.

Indigenous Health – Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States - Laying Claim to a Future that Embraces Health for Us All.

Improving the health of all peoples has been a call across the globe for many decades and unfortunately remains relevant today, particularly given the large disparities in health status of peoples found around the world. Rather than differences in health, or health inequalities, we use a different term, health inequities. This is so as mere differences in health (or inequalities ) can be common in societies and do not necessarily reflect unfair social policies or practices. For example, natural ageing implies older people are more prone to illness. Yet, when differences are systematic, socially produced and unfair, these are considered health inequities. Certainly making judgments on what is systematic, socially produced and unfair, reflects value judgments and merit open debate. We are making explicit in this paper what our judgments are, and the basis for these judgment

Aboriginal fiddling in the North : the two traditions

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How Do We Come to Know? Exploring Maple Syrup Production and Climate Change in Near North Ontario

This paper reports on a pilot project exploring the impacts of climate change on maple syrup production in understudied near north, Ontario spaces. Maple syrup is produced by settler, Métis and First Nations communities for commercial distribution and as part of a mixed subsistence economy. The focus on maple syrup is opportune, since syrup production and sugar maple trees (Acer saccharum) are extremely susceptible to climate change and the biophysical and social impacts of climate change on maple syrup production in the near north of Ontario have yet to be understood. Given that the process of developing research is under-reported and that this project has had the opportunity to undertake a funded development process, this paper describes and assesses our process of ‘coming to know’, which has been guided by the following objectives: 1) to undertake an exploratory investigation of the nature of available data about long-term syrup production and climate change in both settler and Indigenous communities, 2) to include and valorize marginalized Indigenous voices and ecologies, 3) to focus on collecting climate change data from understudied near north spaces, 4) to assess the availability and quality of ecological and quantitative data in order to enhance locally-relevant understandings of climate change, and 5) to work towards the development of a cross-cultural and transdisciplinary methodological framework within which to accomplish the first four objectives. We approach these objectives across disciplinary boundaries and cultural perspectives, and with growing relationships with community partners. We describe the rich sources of information found through the pilot study and discuss highlights of our on-going process of developing our research project

The Gypsy and Traveller communities’ housing dispute against the Localism Tenet – Social and Cultural definition of Gypsy and Traveller status and gender issues

Financial Support from the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme of the European Union-JUSTICE 12 project

Aboriginal Education in Quebec: A Benchmarking Exercise

Quebec’s Aboriginal poverty is severe, and the large gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal education levels is the most important factor in explaining it. In the report, the author examines the relationship between education levels and employment for Quebec Aboriginals. Comparing outcomes within the province’s Aboriginal identity groups to results for other Quebecers, and for Canadians overall, Richards finds that the province’s Aboriginal education outcomes rank below the Canadian average, which itself is disturbingly low. Richards makes six broad recommendations to address the crisis in Aboriginal education – in Quebec and the rest of Canada.The Education Papers, Canada, Quebec, Aboriginals, education, employment